16.0 km 28:03 avg 34.2 avg power 237watts avg HR 157 (which is very high for me, but it was 5:43pm start)20th of 32 riders on overall time11th of 32 on target time, either season PB, age standard or time keepers choice.

Not a time trialist, 1st TT was last Sunday's 25km hilly TT in hail. Today was flat and windy, 20kph gusting to 30kph headwind for 8ks, before turning back with tailwind. I was using my regular road bike without TT bars, but I had my not so secret weapon my Elite+ powertap power meter. Tactics ride 1st 2 minutes at 240 watts, then 220 watts till last 4 minutes step it up to 260 watts and last minute over 300 watts. Almost 1st two minutes at 240w+, then at 230 watts, missed my 4 minuts to go marker, as the rider who started behind and caught me, almost go hit by truck, and could not keep 300watts for last minute.

Happy with the results, seeing I was on regular road bike, I think I was 1st of the non aero riders, beat a couple of people who beat me on Sunday and of the most the people I regularly race beat me, but the biggest gap was 1:07, they had raced the course before and all were on TT bikes.

Back for next week with a simple plan, start at 250 watts, then sit on 240 watts until a couple minutes to go.

Another CX race today ... bit smaller than yesterday. But bloody hard course...bit flatter though which was nice but there were about 5 or 6 hard runs. Was running 13th with one and a half laps to go... then on the toughest run up I exploded. My back was super fatigued and I just ran out of puff.Had an OK start but one of my brake blocks went into my rear wheel... yanked it back out and it seemed to be fine the rest of the race, unlike my gears, big ring was unrideable for some reason, kept hooking up. But I had to dig deep, probably too deep to get back to the bunch up front. Got past them and a team mate jumped on.2nd lap was the best, then lost 10 secs extra the next two laps... as you can see that blew out the last two laps. Dropped 3 or 4 places after that . But first CX race I didn't get lapped . Need to do some running practice with the bike... .00:10:31 00:09:35 00:09:45 00:09:55 00:10:34 00:10:47

Yesterday... total p'd off that the results show me at +2 tours instead of +1. Would have been my first top 20 place in a biggish CX race .Before I squashed my finger .

Report:Yet again another windy afternoon of racing, pace was pretty consistent everyone pulling there turns except this one bloke. 2nd lap into it, a group of two go off into the wind and have a small gap. Not that worrying considering the hefty head wind that is one display again.

3rd lap, and there is a crash! One of the guys in the break crossed wheels and that was the end of him. So now it was a lone rider with a few hundred meters lead and the remaining pack of myself, another bloke and that guy who wasn't taking his turn now form up and smash it into the wind rotating through.

Last lap! And its the lone leader with a few hundred meters, myself and the guy who wouldn't take his turn a bit further back and that last guy in no mans land. Coming down the back straight I know I don't have it in me to bridge it to the leader, despite the calls of the other guy to come on and go. I trail his wheel all the way alone the back straight into the wind, he is slowly fading and then I jump before the guy behind us is able to catch and jump me. That was it, cycled over the finish line about 500m behind the leader and about the same again from 3rd & 4th.

Another A grade crit, total suffer-fest this time with a cold 30kph wind blowing across the track. 367W average, 384W NP, average HR of 162 and 40kph even with the wind. 21.7km in 32:33. I burnt way too much energy on the front early on trying to reduce a gap to the first break, and then struggled to hang on when the surges started. Because I was always at the back, the riders ahead of me were the ones burning out and dropping off and taking me with them! Worst one was when A passed B and the rider ahead of me let us get gapped and then B blocked us - I had to flog myself for half a lap getting back on. I kept getting dropped... I kept riding back on. And I finished with the remains of the bunch, but about eight riders were away in three groups, and the original break stayed away (two very, very strong riders!). First time I've ever suffered from the "runny nose" excessive CO2 in the bloodstream syndrome, and I set new PB power for this season for everything between 9 minutes 22 seconds and 32 minutes. FTP estimate now 369W. And I feel absolutely stuffed.

BTW - I'm riding up in A because it's challenging, not because I'm competetive. My goal is to finish with the bunch, and to drive the pace if it's too easy.

PS - lapped B grade. Slackers!

Edit: Turns out there were only five away up the road, nine in the bunch and there were five behind me including 2 DNF's. Seven DNF's from B from 25 starters!

Last edited by twizzle on Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ross wrote:Good result in the TT on the weekend too. I will have a word with the handicapper to see that you are bumped to A grade for road races too...

Nah - I've got too much dirt on him. I will, however, probably move myself back up to B for road soon. But I'm not planning on any road races for a while. I'm sticking to what I'm good at from now on... TT's. Crits is just to hurt myself with a view to getting fitter.

We need a separate TT class, so I can be 'A' for Crit's and TT's and 'B' for road.

hawthorn crits - D grade. have done too much on the bike this week after 2 weeks holiday and the jetlag hit me. i signed up anyway as i ride past the crits on my commute and i was feeling a bit better. managed to keep up with the bunch, which i was very happy with in the circumstances, but didn't contest the finish and just rolled in at the back of the pack.

at 36.7 km/h, it was slower than my previous race 3 weeks ago in C grade (37.9km/h), but i'm confident that once i'm back in the groove i can contest the win in D grade.

kirky92au wrote:The bell wasn't rung / "heard", and my computer mucked up as well so I thought still had one lap to go and missed the final sprint.

We had about five of us like that one night. They did a half-arsed ring for the break, forgot to ring it for the bunch, so we kept racing. When two grades are on the track at the same time, it's always a bit harder, but most race directors can carry it off without stuffing up.

-----------"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever" Lance Armstrong

Boy I sucked today!... felt sluggish on the warm up laps, couldn't get up the climb at any speed and didn't seem to be making much power on the flats either!.Got a great start... probably 10th or 11th into the first run on some steps. Sitting in a nice bunch up the first climb where there was a lot of pushing and shoving resulting in a few crashes, I got a good gap after that... and that was were my luck ran out ... just went out way too hard and by the time we went up the climb the 2nd time I was getting passed left right and center!. After that it was just suffer away in silence... on my 2nd to last lap I got past about half way by the guy who won last Sundays race, a National level MTB'er so no too much shame . That turned it into my last lap and I sprinted hard to get back a couple of places.Pretty disappointed in my performance though, core strength was letting me down, 90 plus kgs didn't help either ... only have a couple more races this year and then two flattish ones in first weekends of January. Aiming to get right for a better performance by then... lot of work to do.Lucky they are so much fun even with the suffering.

Not this week, last weekend certainly took a toll but I didn't do much this week at all. I will put it down to an off day ... Plus had a couple of slight mechanical issue to. Bars rotated a bit on one of the drop offs then again the next lap, ended up doing the last couple of laps in the drops. Plus big ring was sucking the chain up again... Never does it on the road!.No excuses though... Today I sucked!.

I had my second race today at lansdowne. After getting 3rd place in C grade last time, I was put into B grade. I had never been around the track prior to the race today. After a couple of laps I knew it was going to be tough as there is a big descent and I am crap at descending. After each descent I was chasing the pack down. I did my best to hang in there. There were many attacks but they were all caught. My confidence was building and I was amongst the action with afew laps to go. On the bell lap after the descent I was mid pack and began to make my move up a little. A few guys had opened up about a 40m gap with a km to go but I stayed calm and let a whole bunch of waratah riders bridge the gap. I knew were I wanted to be and took a wheel which was heading in the right direction. He jumped and I stayed with him for a couple hundred meters. He went past everyone and with 300m to go I jumped and gave it everything. The chasers came from everywhere but I managed to hold them off for the Win!!! I was so excited, I had my wife and daughter there too which made it even better!For those that want the statsAverage speed 40.0 km\hAverage heart rate 167Max heart rate 189Placing 1st!!!